It was a privilege and a pleasure to have known Mike as a brother in Christ and a dear friend. I cannot begin to tell you how much he will be missed by a generation of ordinands, students and ministerial colleagues. He was one of those few people it is difficult to imagine not being around, and whose wise counsel was such a blessing to many.
In many ways Mike was the foremost conservative evangelical theologian of his times. His training as a lawyer and his time working on parliamentary legislation left him with a healthy hostility to flabby thinking. Having a brilliant mind, he nonetheless had a warm pastoral heart which was influenced by his time in Crowborough as a curate. He began to shape his skills as a lecturer in systematic and biblical theology on the staff of Moore Theological College, Sydney. His return to join the staff at Oak Hill Theological College was warmly welcomed and he has shone there for ten years as the much loved and widely valued principal.
Rounded approach
Mike passionately believed in residential theological training. He strongly resisted its downgrading. But, while he wanted his students to be stretched academically and use their gifts to the full, he also saw the need for a rounded approach. Intellectual achievement without spiritual progress and growth in holiness would lead to ‘sound but arrogant’ ineffective ministers. It was head and heart together that interested him. Like others down the years, ‘truth on fire’ was what moved and motivated him. He liked to talk – using a medical analogy – of training to be a GP rather than a specialist (though those who could were encouraged to pursue their special interests). His vision, shared by others on the team, has arguably made Oak Hill the place of choice to train.
